Cutting the Cord: Why People are Ditching Cable

What would you do with an extra $100 or more in your pocket every month? You could go on a nice date, buy some great shoes, or beef up your savings account. Well, 7.6 million people in the United States have found a way to do exactly this.

They are called “cord cutters,” and they have the power to scare big companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Why? Because they have left traditional television subscription behind and they are never turning back.

Cord cutters – for lack of a better term – are people who have ditched cable all together. Instead, they rely on lower-cost services like Netflix, Hulu and Redbox for their entertainment needs. Some young, independent adults have never paid for cable and never plan to. What’s driving this trend?

This is the most obvious advantage and the one that gets most people interested in cutting the cord. It’s hard not to feel a little cheated when you flip through all 900 channels, find nothing, and turn on Netflix. Enough rounds of this and you’ll find yourself wondering why you’re spending over $1,200/year on cable.

At least 90% of people who have dealt with a cable company have made the face in the gif above. Ok, that’s a made-up statistic, but cable companies do have a bad rap for a reason. Instead of lowering prices for loyal customers, they often raise them. What’s worse, there is often only one or two options to choose from in a given area. It’s easy to see why some people want to give up on these companies all together.

Netflix is the perfect rebound after a bad breakup with your cable company. It’s always there, streaming exactly what you want to watch when you want to watch it. Netflix understands you; it recommends shows and movies based on what you like. What’s more, it’s only about $10/month.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and iTunes stream favorite shows and movies directly to a user’s tablet, phone, computer or television. With just one or two of these subscriptions, you won’t miss a thing. It’s easy to see how that much lower price tag starts to look appealing, especially when there seems to be no sacrifice.

Every penny pincher’s dream is to only pay for what you use, and that’s exactly what a la carte entertainment is. In this ideal world, people would only pay for the 5 or 6 channels they actually watch. Now that HBO and Showtime offer their content without a cable subscription, this dream is becoming a reality. If people can subscribe to their favorite channels separately and save money, why wouldn’t they?

Sports and other live events are keeping some people from making this big switch. However, that might change soon. Some people simply go to bars to watch the big game; others have subscribed to sport-specific services, which allow some games to be watched.

What do you think? Will you be cutting the cord soon? Does this change your advertising decisions? Let us know! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!